“Hey John – I still have my golf putter.”

Former Ryder Cup captain and PGA Championship winner Hal Sutton was speaking at an event earlier this year when he made this comment to PING Chairman John Solheim. A version of Sutton’s gold putter also resides in a vault at PING’s Arizona headquarters. The company has tried to create a gold version of every PING putter used in a significant win. That means players from Tiger Woods through to Fred Couples, including the likes of Nick Faldo, Tom Watson and, of course, Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson, are represented in the vault, which has been referred to as “golf’s Fort Knox.”

Where did the concept for the putter vault come from? Solheim says he believes it originated from the experience his father, Karsten, had as an inventor. Karsten, who worked at General Electric before venturing into the golf equipment business, held the early patent on rabbit ear antennas that could be mounted on the back of a TV set. GE didn’t want to use it, so Karsten sold the patent to another company, expecting only limited consumer interest. It turns out he vastly underestimated how consumers would react— the rabbit ears sold millions.

“It always bugged him,” says John Solheim. As a way of thanking Solheim, the company that created the rabbit ears gave him a goldplated version when sales passed one million, and again when that figure doubled.

“I think that was in the back of his head when he created the putter vault,” says John Solheim, noting the family just recently located one of the sets of gold rabbit ears after fearing it had been lost.

“My dad wanted a way to thank players for using our putter. They were often players using other brands clubs, but who used our putter.” There’s no questioning the vault, which started modestly in the 1970s, is impressive. Though the initial “vault” was really little more than a closet, it has evolved over time to become a significant space that houses nearly 3,000 putters used by champions on a variety of golf tours. The vault was expanded in 2014 to house all of the PING flatsticks used by winners all over the world. There’s also a series of other clubs in the vault—including wedges from major champions like Bubba Watson and Mark Calcavecchia—but it is the putters that capture the most notice.

After each win, two gold putters are made—one is given to the golfer, while the other is kept in the vault to commemorate the victory. The putter vault has become even more celebrated since Karsten Solheim elected to make a solid gold putter head (using 20 ounces of gold) for any player winning a major championship.

Henderson has several putters in the vault. She used a PING Oslo putter to win her first major championship two years ago. “Excited to add my new Vault Oslo putter to the PING gold putter vault,” she wrote when posting a photo of the club on Twitter. “But think I’ll keep this one in the bag.”

Excited to add my new Vault Oslo putter to the @PingTour gold putter vault but think I'll keep this one in the bag 😜 pic.twitter.com/hUjtYG23dv

— Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) June 13, 2016

Players also earn gold putters for other significant accomplishments, like earning a spot on a Ryder or Presidents Cup team. Brooke Henderson received one in 2016 for representing Canada at the Olympics in Rio. Some players have literally dozens of gold putters in their collections. Tom Watson has the most—45—followed by the late Seve Ballesteros with 44, and British star Lee Westwood, who has 41. To many, the putter vault isn’t as much a testament to the players, but to the genius of Karsten Solheim.

“The story of his success is of the variety legends are made of,” wrote golf journalist Mary Ramey.

Interestingly, not all gold putters are alike. Bubba Watson received a solid gold PING Anser 1 for winning the Masters, and with a weight of 24.7 ounces, it was appraised, at the time, at a value of around $30,000 USD.

Putters from Canadians are also on display. Of course, there are putters from Henderson’s wins, but also flatsticks from Sandra Post, Jim Rutledge and recent Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member Gail Graham.

PING even has its own series of Vault putters available to consumers, with each designed to celebrate the legendary enclave of gold putters. With four models that incorporate True-Roll face technology, the average golfer can use a version of a putter that captured greatness.

“For players it really means something,” says Solheim. “You have a trophy, but this commemorates something you did. It is part of that win.”